One of my favorite books is Dirt, The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth, by William Bryant Logan, which I read years ago, when I was up to my eyeballs in mud, making ovens and houses and doing all kinds of mud work in schools and communities. Then I slowly found myself more and more absorbed in wood, and discovered a new title, Oak: Frame of Civilization. By that time, apparently, Logan had gone from working as Writer-in-Residence at the Church of St. John the Divine in NYC, to working as an arborist. This new book begins when the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC asks him to pollard some Plane trees . . .
The value of a wooden spoon
what is value? This is a family's "favorite wooden spoon," made by an anonymous Haitian*, and sold cheap at an import store. It became the basis for another essay on the value of a wooden spoon, and has become part of this one. The economy of wares: the value of a wooden spoon Ideally, I’d sell wooden spoons and bowls directly, person to person, and the value of a wooden spoon would be common knowledge. Buyers could handle things, see some of the process, chat, sign up for a class, build relationships — and burn less fossil fuel…. In the meantime, however, most folks start by looking for . . .
cob ovens, spoon carving, & other workshops for 2019
May 18-19, cob oven workshop at the Artisan Baking Center in Petaluma California, details hereJune 22-23, cob oven workshop at the Prairie Mountain Folkschool in Joseph, Oregon, details hereAugust 17-18, A two day Greenwood Carving class (from simple to more complex), at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology, Otis, Oregon, details hereJune & August Greenwood Spoon Carving classes, dates TBA, Corvallis Art center, Oregon, details should be posted here soon!July 21-27 I'll be teaching greenwood spoon-carving at Echoes-in-time, another primitive skills . . .